Dental flossing is ordinarily done manually, by holding a segment of dental floss between the fingers of two hands and moving an intermediate portion between a pair of teeth to clean their adjacent sidewalls by a vertical scraping motion, while trying to observe the operation in a mirror in a fixed mounting nearby. Flossing becomes difficult and awkward due to the manual dexterity a person needs in order to be effective and produce satisfactory results. Because of this difficulty and awkwardness many people become discouraged and discontinue flossing. Therefore, by providing a simplified means of dental flossing, more people will perform this task, thereby reducing and/or preventing dental caries and periodontal disease.
Various proposals for means to assist in this operation has been advanced, but apparently the only one to win substantial acceptance has been a Y shaped plastic tool to hold the floss between the ends of the two arms of the Y, while the base of the Y provides a handle for controlling movement of the floss. The two arms are curved downwardly to make it easier to insert the floss between the teeth. While this tool is useful, it does not provide any power assist in the operation.
Various designs have been proposed in the past for power-assisted flossing, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,091,789 (Andren), 2,381,530 (Dembenski), 2,444,638 (Dobbins), 3,421,524 (Waters), 3,759,274 (Warner), 4,014,354 (Garrett), 4,235,253 (Moore), and 4,265,257 (Salyer). The structural and operational limitations of the devices disclosed in these patents were evidently such as to leave unsatisfied the public demand for a powered unit to assist in flossing of teeth. This is particularly a problem for those whose handicaps make conventional manual flossing difficult or impossible.